THE ERMINE.

HIS graceful little animal is a species of weasel, not uncommon in temperate Europe, but most abundant in the north. Its colour is a glossy white, and its skin is extensively used in the manufacture of articles for protecting women and children from the winter's cold. The finest skinsthose of the purest and brightest colour, and with the thickest and longest furare imported from Lapland, Siberia, Norway, Russia, and other high latitudes. The Ermine is about nine inches in length, exclusive of the tail which measures four inches. It is a bold animal and very quick in its movements. It preys on young rabbits, hares, and birds. It sometimes attacks poultry and sucks their eggs; of moles and rats it is a determined foe.

ACROSTIC ON THE WORD BIBLE.

Y Dear young friends, do you know what the word Bible means? It means THE Book. Why is it called The Book? Because it is the best of books, the great book, the only book from God. I will endeavour to interest and ins truct you by giving you an Acrostic,-five names,one for each letter of the word B, I, B, L, E.-Box OF JEWELS, IDOLBREAKER, BOUQUET OF FLOWERS, LOOKING GLASS, EVER

GREEN.

BOX OF JEWELS rich and rare;
I DOL-BREAKER strong and sure;
BOUQUET Sweet of flowers the best;
LOOKING GLASS of truth confest;
E VERGREEN in beauty drest.

Let me say a word or two about each.

For the first letter we have BOX OF JEWELS. You might go into some fine lady's house and take up some little old box upon the bedroom table, and she would snatch it from you, and say "You must not touch that box, be careful, these are my Jewels." She opens the lid and there you see bracelets, and rings sparkling, and lovely to behold. And so you may take up an old Bible; it don't look much, the covers are shabby and worn, but, oh, be careful of it, do not throw it about because it is old. There are jewels in it, precious jewels. The Queen has many costly jewels, one diamond the Koh-i-noor, valued at five-hundred thousand pounds-but she has not one jewel so precious as these. Every doctrine is a jewel, every promise is a jewel, every invitation is a jewel, every kind word of Jesus is a jewel.

All the bright jewels of the world must pass away, but the truths of God that are written in this book are precious jewels that shall abide for ever.

For the second letter we have IDOL-BREAKER.

I call the Bible this name because everywhere the Book comes to the heart it breaks up the idols. Good men have carried this book to heathen nations, and when this book has touched their hearts, the idols have been broken. They have cut up their images into bits, and burnt them in the fire. But have little children no idols ? Oh yes, everything you love more than Jesus is your idol. If you love pleasure more than Jesus, pleasure is your idol. But where the Bible comes into the heart, it breaks up all the idols and makes us feel what the poor negro felt,—

"I am a poor sinner and nothing at all,
And Jesus Christ is my all in all."

For the third letter of the word Bible we have BOUQUET OF FLOWERS.

That means a nosegay. Bouquet is the French word Nosegay is our old-fashioned Saxon word, that speaks its own meaning, something gay for the nose. You might buy a little nosegay for a trifling sum, or you may have a bouquet of rare and beautiful flowers costing many pounds. Such a bouquet was presented to the Princess Alexandra when she landed here. A young lady, elegantly dressed, was allowed to offer her a lovely bouquet; she took it and smiled, and handed it to one of her ladies to carry for her. But you never saw such a bouquet as this,-God's Holy Word,-angels would love to carry this. It is the sweetest in the world. Would you like to have it? Jesus gives it

you.

This nosegay is made up of 1189 flowers. There are two bunches in it. The largest has 929 flowers, and is called "The Old." The smaller has 260 flowers, and is called "The New." Do you know what I mean? I call every chapter a flower. If you look at a nosegay of flowers, all are not alike; some are red, some white, some yellow, some blue; some are cup-shaped, some bell-shaped, some starshaped, and so there is a difference in these flowers. Some are Histories, some are prophecies, some are parables, some are songs, some are prayers.

Have you not sometimes taken up a flower and admired it? Look at that lily, what a beautiful thing! Could you make such a flower? Some young ladies make beautiful wax flowers, but what is the difference? They have no smell they cannot grow, they have no life. are like bunches of wax-flowers. a bunch of sweet living flowers.

So, other good books Here in the Bible we have

When I was a boy I was very fond of botany;—that is the science flowers. Notice that rose, here is the stalk;

these green leaves underneath the flower are the calyx, or flower cup. The flower itself, you observe, is made up of a number of beautiful sweet-smelling leaves, called petals. Some flowers have four, some six, some twenty, some a hundred. And so these chapters, each of which I call a flower, are made up of beautiful verses; and every verse is like one of those sweet-scented petals. That little heartsease may remind us of some beautiful little Psalm. That rose, with its many sweet crimson petals, may remind us of some sweet chapter, with many verses that tell about Jesus the Rose that ever blooms.

How fond a little child is of a beautiful flower! Show one to your baby sister in her mother's arms. She will retch out her little hand for it, and if your mother does not give the flower, she will cry and struggle to get it. I hope you will be anxious to have those beautiful flowers of the Bible for your own.

One thing more. Suppose you were a little child living in London, and seldom had any flowers, and a dear young friend in the country were to send you a fine bunch of roses, you would put them in water, and be so pleased to smell them; but in a day or two you look at them and say, “Ah, my poor roses are beginning to fade." My dear children, Jesus has sent you in this book a nosegay of flowers that will never fade. Some thought they would have faded long ago. Wicked men have tried to make them wither. Satan has blown upon them with his poisonous breath, but here they are-blooming still,-lovely still.

For the fourth letter of the word BIBLE we have LOOKING GLASS.

Some little girls you know are fond of the lookingglass. They will stand and look at themselves and admire their own pretty faces; but I have a looking-glass for them. Your little looking-glass that stands upon your bedroom table only shows the outside. I have one that shows the inside of your very heart, and I don't mind how fond you are